


Healing process

by skinnyallie



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Eventual Relationships, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Partners to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:15:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23671426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skinnyallie/pseuds/skinnyallie
Summary: One day Malcolm gets into trouble (I know, big surprise) and Dani is the one to patch him up afterwards. Little did she know how taking care of his black eye would be the beginning of something fun.
Relationships: Malcolm Bright & Dani Powell, Malcolm Bright/Dani Powell
Comments: 15
Kudos: 76





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> While I was rewathing 1x09 _Pied-A-Terre_ the idea popped up, when the team was questioning Simone at Malcolm's place she said "I loved that I could have him without consequences." with camera being on Dani.  
> I immediately was in need of brightwell friends-with-benefits but didn't find much. I would just leave it like that but @claremonpsych kinda pushed me to do it with classic "you know what that means (write one !)". She was also generous enought to edit this whole thing.  
> But I feel like very often when writing within this trope, authors forget about the _friends_ part in this phrase, so I want to emphasize that **Dani and Malcolm are friends**.

When it had happened the very first time they both actually were very surprised in the course the evening had taken. Dani was sent off to babysit Malcolm once again, which at this point wasn’t anything out of ordinary. Every now and then the man was still getting himself into trouble and it was the team's responsibility to get him out of them. They didn’t complain though, they were just constantly worried about him. That day was no difference, up to a point.

After too close encounter with particularly violent suspect Bright ended with black as coal bruise encircling one of his constantly troubled blue eyes. It was quite early when Gil sent him home, and Dani with him so she would make sure that by the end of the evening he would be safely drifting on painkillers, cuffed into his restraints. That evening was soft with the shine of the setting Sun coming through the window, the pink stained sky was reassuringly showing itself as a promise of the next day being better than the one before.

Driving to his place went as usual, with Dani poking fun at Malcolm the whole time. She had told him the guy was dangerous, they all had. But of course! Malcolm Bright knows best and one day that will be the death of all of them. Although now was the time for her to enjoy her  _ told-you-so _ , she was still worried and didn’t hide it, insisting he should go see his ophthalmologist the following day.

After getting to his place, Malcolm’s goal was to get a bag of frozen vegetables to try and stop the additional swelling. There was nothing like this in the precinct;s fridge so by the point they were at his place he looked ridiculous with a face deformed by the bruise. It turned out to be more difficult than he was presumably imagining, with his coordination being corrupted by limited eyesight and swing likely stronger than he had thought while hazed by the adrenaline. Two steps in and Bright gave up. The best he could do was to let Dani walk him over to the sofa, where he slowly sat down to avoid any further ringing in his head.

His thinking process was definitely slower than he assumed since before Bright fully sorted his thoughts Dani was already back, with a pack of ice cold broccoli and carrots. Malcolm wanted to reach for it but her immediate reaction was a displeased clicking of her tongue.

“Quit it, Bright. You only hurt yourself more and we don’t need that,” he saw close to nothing so his attempt to place anything on his injured face might end up with another catastrophe like him gouging out his eye with a baby carrot. Truly, something to avoid. 

With that said, she settled next to him, close enough to take a good look at the acquired injury. That was closer than usual and only then Bright noticed some cotton towels with a first aid kit on her laps. Dani slowly set veggies on his bruised side, frantically jumping with her eyes around his whole face in search of anything they could miss - small cuts hidden under the bruising and/or damages to the facial bones.

“I’m fine,” Malcolm started to reassure his friend, trying to magnet her gaze with his, so she could see that, for once, he actually meant it.

The unconvinced humm was the only response so he took another shot to meet her eyes and started to follow Dani’s stare with movement of his whole head, risking soft echoing of pain in his skull to grow into something far more unpleasable.

“Could you not?”

Her patience was wearing thin with the whole stress and so she snapped at him. 

“Dani, I am fine. It’s just a black eye.”

“Just?”

“What, you think it’s my first rodeo?” He tried to send her reassuring smirk, but he achieved nothing with it. Half of his face immobilized definitely makes it less charming than he anticipated.

He met no answer, only the roll of her eyes. She waited a few more minutes with the pack lightly pressed against his face. When Dani grew in confidence his face was freezed enough to let her apply something to down the swelling, the pack was set to the table. The hassle in finding what was specifically needed for today’s occasion in his med kit was making him even more of a creature of some other world. There was everything and yet a simple gel with aluminum acetate was impossible to find.

But she did find it, eventually. The transparent medicine was squished generously on the top of Dani’s palm and she started to take small scoops of it, applying them gently to Bright’s face. Her cold fingers and soft touch had an additional soothing effect. Her stare was fixed on the surface where he was hurt, inspecting every square inch of it. The nose was definitely not broken, still in its straight shape. Malcolm claimed he could see but Dani knew it was bullshit. There was no chance in hell the swelled lids let in any light down to his pupils. Fortunately Dani didn’t spot any broken skin, so no cuts.

Then there was the bruise. One giant black space that took the shape out of Bright’s face. It wasn’t black actually, but very dark purple. Dani knew at that point already, that the healing will be pain in the ass, but that only to be seen in the (hopefully near) future. Little blood vessels, the one that weren’t crushed under the punch, exploded probably under the stress, and the puzzle of red, thin as a thread lines was placed on his temple and jaw, reaching to his ear.

She was still cautiously applying the medicine in small amounts, to make sure the dark, swelled spot was covered fully and generously with it. While examining Malcolm’s face her eyes eventually ended on his, and Dani right away was enchanted by them.

“Has anyone ever told you that your eyes are mesmerising?” Dani asked shamelessly, a bit flirtatious. It was meant to be just a joke but little did she know.

“Let me think…” He closed his eyes, thinking, and tilted his head back, under little pressure Dani put up to his chin, so she could gain better access to some parts that so far were left out. Well, frankly he only closed one eye since the other one was already closed, covered by injury. “I guess the only one who told something like this was Ains. She had a phase when she wanted to have blue eyes, around thirteen.”

Then he came back to the previous position, now when Dani was finished with her ministrations They again were so close the fact was worth noticing by his consciousness. She was cleaning her hands with one of the towels she brought to the sofa and placed every remaining on her lap thing to the table. While busying herself with all that, she answers casually, not meeting his stare.

“So just for the record, you do,” only after the words had been spoken she looked at him and smiled, as uniquely as only she could. He always felt the urge to reciprocate it and now was no different.

The moment of silence was lingering, their gazes locked and Malcolm found in himself something that literally  _ pushed him _ toward her. Their lips met, kiss was a little dislocated due to perspective impaired due to brain processing light stimuluses taken in by only one. His spatial perception was depraved so his lips ended up smacking on corner of Dani’s but she corrected him right away, to the surprise of both of them.

He hesitantly placed his hand on Dani’s knee, but she without any shame reached to his collar, of still white and perfectly straight button up with tie in its place, to draw him closer. When it became obvious both of them were enjoying themselves she gained even more spirit, wrapped his tie around her fingers and pulled it to keep Bright in the desired place. Content gasp came from his lips, muffed by her kiss.

It was a just matter of time until Dani was straddling him. Bright was surprised at how swiftly she achieved that and jerked back with his whole body to look confusingly at her.

“Is that okay?” Hints of doubt and disappointment were missed by Malcolm, he was in such positively shocked.

Before he gathered enough wits to respond verbally his hands were on Dani’s hips and he straightened to once again get closer to her.

“Totally,” he blinked a few times in an attempt to shake off residues of his own surprise, smiling at himself.

They were speaking in regular volume voices so the ambience didn’t get out of hand. For Dani it was a blessing because it wasn’t hard to tell him right aways how she felt about all of this.

“Bright, I-- Um... I want no relationship.”

“That’s fine with me. I like you too much to wish upon your relationship with  _ me _ .” He did smile but pain in his voice was poorly hidden. He was honest though. Any relationship with him, romantic or not, was damning for the other party, and he did like Dani too much to put her through that.

“Just sex?”

“Pure fun.”

“God, I love fun…”

***

When Dani woke up and opened her eyes she was facing the window. Judging by the color of the sky she quickly assumed it’s been two, maybe three hours, since they came back to his place. She was laying on her belly, on top of the covers hugging the duvet, with one leg hidden under and the other draped over it. Bright had to change his covers a few days ago since they smelled not like any detergent but rather like him. Dani rolled over to find Malcolm on the other side of the bed, sitting comfortably with pillows placed behind his back. He was reading, covered only from waist down.

"You should've woke me up."

Her voice was so hoarse it surprised them both. Dani wasn’t covering herself more than the duvet tangled around her body was already covering, in false modesty. He already saw it all, in the light of day approaching its end. Now she was looking up at him from her lying position, he looked down at her from behind the book.

"I don't mind you here." _ It was meant to be  _ **_only_ ** _ fun _ , Dani thought to herself and froze with terror. Luckily it was all saved with Bright’s next words. "You looked relaxed and the least I could do was to let you sleep in my comfortable bed, after what I cooked up with our suspect."

He was right, his bed was comfortable. She turned on her back and closed her eyes, trying to shake off from her mind leftovers of the nap.

"You did other things also..." She praised him from her position, smiling. Malcolm grew pink on his cheeks but fortunately Dani didn’t see that, and for sure she wasn’t suspecting Bright of blushing. “Better not thank JT for saving your pathetic ass, in  _ that  _ way.”

He chuckled at her joke. It was reassuring to hear her casual approach to what happened between them.

"I didn't expect you to be so… vigorous." Dani continued. She made a face as if she just licked a blister of especially sour lemon. "Although you act like a maniac at crime scenes so I should have predicted you have energy."

He wasn't hurt to her surprise and ease, Bright only laughed at that. Dani easily judged it was genuine without having the need to look at him.

“Can I take a shower?”

“Of course. You already know where the majority of things are, including towels. In the bathroom you’re welcome to use whatever you wish.”

Bright was still surprised how Dani got her hands on those towels and his med kit so quickly after they stepped into his loft. But for her placement of those things was obvious. She had to patch him up multiple times so far and with time she not only learned where specific items were; she also learned the method in his madness and knew where to look for certain things. Truth be told, Dani didn’t even notice when she became so comfortable around his place.

She got up and after a few seconds of search the thing she was looking for was spotted on the floor, not far from the bed. It was Bright’s shirt she wanted to cover her back and arms with, against the increasing chill of the evening. Walking around the apartment, bare feet and in unbuttoned white shirt she could feel his eyes following her.

Most of her clothes were around the bed so it wasn’t big trouble to find them all. She was picking them up and turning them to the right side. The furthest away was her top - blouse was draped on the sofa, with Bright’s tie hanging next to it. Tie that she took off of his neck moments before they decided to be adults and go to bed. When all of her garments were folded, her next mission was to find a towel. Equipped with all that, she went to take a quick shower.

When Dani emerged from the bathroom fifteen minutes later Malcolm was in the kitchen, with all of his clothes gone from the sightline. He was wearing casual sweatpants and sweater and Dani knew, now she saw everything. She joined him and immediately a cup of tea landed in front of her.

“How’s the eye?”

“Could have been worse.”

She took a sip and realised the tea isn’t hot; he had to make it shortly after she went into the bathroom. The need to drink it at least warm urged her.

“Did you take painkillers?”

“No.”

“You better…”

“Of course, ma’am.”

She eyed suspiciously his defensive posture and when she still wasn’t believing him a bit, Dani just got up and headed to the drawer where his meds were. With ibuprofen pills held expectantly, she waited until he meekly placed his hand under them. Two pills were popped into his open palm and she waited. Her eyes didn’t leave the tablets until they went down his throat with the rest of his tea.

“Great. I won’t order you to go to bed but get some rest, okay?”

She gently patted his shoulder with care shining through her concerned eyes. With one last gulp she finished the rest of her already cold tea and headed to the door. On her way out Dani added, knowing damn well it was pointless:

“And go see the doctor tomorrow!”


	2. Chapter 2

It was a few weeks, or even months, into their newly rearranged friendship when Dani received a message. It came in too early for her to even consider reading it right away. It was Saturday and all she wanted was to squish out as many sleep hours as she possibly could, but then a minute later her phone chimed again. Peace was not her destination for that morning. With irritated groan Dani reached to her nightstand in search of the treasonous source of the noises.

Still buried deep into her pillows and duvet, she examined what’s going on. The device in her hand showed it was 8:32 am, and that both messages were from Malcolm.

_ Wanna grab coffee together? _

_ I know great place. _

Dani sat up in shock and hugged her knees, tangled in covers. She was a messy sleeper, always kicking and turning from one side to the other. That was the very reason her hair was looking ridiculous in the mornings and also, why she always slept in fitting clothing - it couldn't entrap her body.

Now she was just blankly staring at the screen. In situations like that she had no idea what to make out of Malcolm’s approach to the little pleasant addition to their regular friendship, they still very much cultivated it. Weight of a small doubt started settling in her belly, because she wanted to spend time with him (not necessarily so early on the weekend, though) so when the opportunity arose, fear took over with “ _ is it a good idea _ ?”.

As if he sensed through the distance of half of the city, the next text popped up.

_ Come on, Powell. Friends do go out together. _

Malcolm wasn’t using any kind of emoticons, but Dani was pretty sure his intentions would go well with a simple smiley face. She was angry he woke her up and instead giving him serious answer Dani sent back:

_ Booty call before 9? Wow, Bright. You have to be truly desperate. _

But it didn't meet any response. Malcolm only sent back a pin on a map, with the location of the coffee place he wanted to meet at. With hateful snarling Dani got out of bed and dressed into clothes she would also wear to work. In an occupation like hers, she could never rule out the possibility she might be called in for duty.

In the most comfortable jeans she possessed, Dani headed to the place of Bright’s choice. Before her morning coffee she had very few traits of decent human being so the route she deliberately chose, even if a little longer, was not so crowded. Better not to be mean to anyone without a reason, and she had tendencies to do be that way. It was because of that Gil stopped asking her to anything that required interaction with her coworkers before 10 am.

When Dani finally reached her destination she spotted that Bright was already inside. He waved to her and invited her in with the gesture. Approaching the table he already knew the troubles were coming, so before she was seated he was at the register, ordering the coffees and a little treat for them both. Few minutes later Malcolm was back with a cup for her and two square plates with cakes.

“Is that what you usually eat for breakfast?”

Dani eyed the pastries in front of her and quickly decided she is content with how the morning had turned out to be.

“If I eat breakfast, yes.”

But she was too focused on the coffee, enjoying how the hot and bitter liquid was bringing back to life all her internal organs as well as her mind. Slowly sipping, Dani gazed over Bright from behind her cup. He was wearing casual clothes, which was for her a new sight outside of his apartment. Neat jeans and a simple leather jacket. Who would have thought? Malcolm Bright could exist outside of his suits, and it still very much was him. The same well-behaved man with knowledge on how to catch killers.

The place he invited her to was a simple coffee shop, the most extraordinary thing being amazing pastry she was just consuming as her first meal of the day. They weren’t talking much until Dani’s last bite and cup half emptied.

“You're gonna die gruesome death for waking me up so early.”

“It was half past eight.”

“Sun has barely risen up!”

“Who would’ve fought? Detective Powell is dramatic on weekends,” Malcolm teased her with the rim of his cup near his lips.

For a few seconds she was staring at his lips and then shook off, whatever that was, and smacked him on the forearm.

“Only because you do not need sleep, doesn’t mean others don’t as well!”

“I’ve spent a few nights with you, Dani, and based on my observation you are restless rather than sleepy in the nighttime.”

“At your place! The rest of those nights I am spending in my bed, soundly sleeping!”

“And of that I am jealous.”

She felt sad because there was no way of helping him. But Dani never actually fully grasped how serious his problem was; she never stayed the night. They never talked it through but that was what she wanted, her own boundaries she set for herself. Dani wanted to be his support during tough moments, but couldn’t figure out how to be around him then, without it being a thread to color their arrangement with things neither of them wanted. Even a good friendship has its limitations.

Before Dani had a chance to figure out how to respond to that, her phone started vibrating in the back pocket. She didn’t even take a peek at the caller ID as she made an apologetic face at Malcolm’s direction, and just put it right to her ear.

“Detective Powell.”

“I don’t think that’s how you start conversation with a friend,” a delighted female voice answered.

Confusion took over and with grimace she looked at the screen to reassure herself. She wasn’t expecting a call from Tally Tarmel.

“Hi! Sorry, just a habit. What’s up?”

“We are going out tonight. Plan is to play darts and defeat JT as many times as I can. Wanna join?”

Bright couldn’t hear any of the conversation happening, so he was just piercing Dani with a curious stare. She stared eyeing him, as one would when judging if a horse is good for a race.

“What if we played teams? I might drag Bright with me.”

“Great!”

“We’ll see how well the FBI taught him to aim.” 

“Babysitter comed at six to see you around seven!” And Tally hung up without further reassurances.

Malcolm still was looking at her, trying to figure out as much as he could just by looking at Dani.

“The Tarmles invited us to the pub tonight, to outplay you in the darts.”

He physically backed down, hit by the memories of the last time he spent time with then and a girl.

“Dani, I don’t think--”

“Oh, friends  _ do _ go out together!”

She didn’t give him a chance to speak and with that it was settled - they were going.

***

They got to the pub separately, from their own apartments, but arrived at the same time. When Dani was stepping out from her cab Malcolm was just getting hold on the handle. Catching a glimpse of her silhouette, his hand froze halfway reaching the door. Malcolm decided to go out to the pub in the same clothes he had during his morning coffee with Dani. But she changed into something closer to what he saw her in Estime’s club than her usual fitting jeans and loose blouse. He waited until she approached him and held the door open for her.

“You look nice,” Bright said the complement in an astonished voice when she was passing him in the doorframe.

“And you look like a human being!”

Her genuine cheer shook off of him how stunned he was with her appearance and Malcolm stepped into the local pub after her. He was there for the first time, it wasn’t the same place that he crashed into with Eve. It looked like Tarmels had different pubs for different games. But for Dani it was familiar, she leaded them with confidence to the table near the one of the dartboards.

She knew perfectly which table to seat at and before he had a chance to join her in the booth she sent him off to get them the first round. When Malcolm was heading to the bar Dani followed him with a gaze. His straight posture, head up high were confusing. That man struggled with a lot and yet, without close proximity to any triggers he was relaxed. In the span of the last weeks it settled fully in Dani’s mind why Jessica was so eager to cut Doctor Whitly off of her son’s life.

His juggling of four beers in hands was very entertaining for Dani to watch. He definitely had no experience in that so when he was close enough she got out of the booth and jumped to help him out, to salvage the bottles from being shattered on the pub's dirty floor.

“You are terrible at it.” She grasped all four bottles, extracting them from between his tangled fingers. “Haven’t you ever brought to the table dozens of beers in one go?”

Placing glass bottles on the table she caught a glimpse of Bright shoving his hand behind his back. He answered her with a bashful little smile while sitting down, hiding his tremor under the table.

“Believe it or not, not many people invited me to have a beer with them. And not like I was a one to socialize with people, either”

Dani did everything in her power to not let pity tainted her face. It would be in very bad taste but she did feel sorry for him, because all that was wrong with him was caused by a man who was supposed to keep him safe. Eyeing him suspiciously she wordlessly, with movement of her head, asked him for the hand. She saw it many times, when the tremor was getting severe, how he was tightly fisting his hand or clutching it with the other.

When he obediently placed his hands on the sticky table she reached to them, his gaze fixed there. No words were exchanged, she just gently held him rubbing the palm, wrist and forearm while the shaking was decreasing slowly. She was looking around, the moment Tarmels stepped inside her hand flew away as if the touch started to burn.

Not JT, nor Tally had to search around the place to find their table, they knew exactly where to look. Dani waved at them with a bottle in her hand, what was meant to inform them the beer was there, waiting for them. They joined and the fun for the evening had started. 

*

Tally tapped out after the third round because there was a baby waiting for her at home, but she let JT have a little more fun with his friends from work. Around their fifth beer no one was bothering with scoring. They started with teaming up boys against girls but it didn’t take long for switching to play Tarmels against Dani and Malcolm. There was a quick joking conversation that Dani and Bright have to be a couple for the sake of fair play but she tried to dismiss it right away. That was the first red flag for Tally, there is something going on.

She didn’t know Bright that well, but she doubted he would ever harm Dani for her to become so defensive about the possibility of them being in any way involved romantically. Hell, Tally was fully aware the joke was on the level of middle schoolers but something still wasn’t making sense about Dani’s overblown irritation.The next flag was when she caught Malcolm shamelessly eyeing up and down Dani’s bare legs.

The ultimate explanation popped up in her head when she saw how Dani smiled at Bright when she was handing him another bottle. It was her round to bring the beers and she approached Malcolm way closer than  _ a friend _ would. They were drawn to each other, that’s for sure. But Tally didn’t comment on that and definitely she had no intention of sharing this with JT, he was too drunk to either way, to comprehend that informacion correctly.

That round was the last by order of Tally, the most sober person among them. She announced it’s time to go home to their kid, and Malcolm and Dani better go as well since they were in the state of mind that attracted problems. They obeyed, and without objections went inside the lift Tally had organised for them.

Malcolm right away gave the driver the address of his place.

“No, Malcolm, I should go home.”

“You are coming home, with me. No way I will let you roam the city alone, in this state, at this hour.”

“I’ll be fine, Bright.”

Alcohol was clouding his judgement but he was rigid about that thing. Yes, Dani easily could take care of herself but his chivalry wouldn’t let him leave her on her own. Bright wasn’t pretending he wasn’t doing this for his peace of his own mind.

“Yes, that much I know,” with a lack of better idea he just leaned closer to bribe her with kisses, his hot lips on her neck. “But I would sleep better with you safe in my bed.”

She was hesitant towards the idea but her head tilted back to grant him better access. For her drunken mind it was alluring, even though the rational part of her knew the drunken sex is sloppy and just not good enough to waste her night for it. However, Malcolm was worth wasting her time, actually it didn’t even feel like a waste.

“You won’t sleep, you liar.”

“Figure of speech.”

He whispered into her ear directly, face pressed to her bushy curls. Malcolm peeled himself away from her, to not provoke the driver to kick them out of his car. Instead, his hand landed on Dani’s bare thigh and layed there unmoved, a promise of night to come. Shortly she placed her own palm on top of his, in a different kind of promise, a gentler one.

Their eyes locked and Malcolm said hoarsely:

“Your hands,” quickly looked down and back into her eyes. “They aren’t cold.”

“Well, one of alcohol’s characteristics is dilating blood vessels.”

Bright hummed in response and the rest of the drive they spent in silence, each of them looking through the opposite window. When they finally reached their destination Malcolm hopped out of the cab and in need to be as charming as a gentleman as he could be, he went around the car to hold the door open for Dani.

It made her laugh, because it was pointless. The courtesy he presented was useless but nonetheless, it was a nice change in Dani’s life. Malcolm showed no trouble when unlocking the door and once again let Dani first, this time she knew because he had to lock them back. Dani usually was able to do it but it was understandable in their current states she could struggle and for Malcolm it was a muscle memory.

In front of Malcolm, Dani wasn’t trying to pretend like she’s not as drunk as she actually was. Slowly making her way up, every step was perfectly thought through to not fall back. Dani could feel Bright’s concern, almost materializing behind her back. She stopped suddenly and halfly turned to him, reaching for his hand. He took it, not quite sure what the reasoning behind it was. Her purpose was to just calm him down a little.

The door at the top of the staircase she could manage to open, and Malcolm wordlessly passed her the keys. Dani dragged him inside and slammed the door, pushing him hard, but not feverishly, against them. They were staring wordlessly into each other's eyes.

“Hello.” Malcolm panicked and spoke first, circling his arms around her waist. In heels Dani was slightly taller than him and he was really into that.

Her arms went to his shoulders, gently caressing his chest and arms on their way there. When she reached the final spot, her hot fingers were on the nape of his neck, delicately ticking his skin, wrist resting on his collarbones.

“Hi,” a smile brightened her face and Malcolm recipriciated. “Tonight was fun.”

“It was.”

“And I am a totally better shooter than you.”

“You wish, Powell.”

“You haven’t even aimed well when you kissed me for the first time!”

“But I did hit the right spot every time since.”

Dani was astonished by this new, so far unknown for her, vulgar part of Malcolm. She blushed and broke the stare, little smile placing itself on her lips because he was right. And he loved when he was right. She looked up to meet his smug look.

“Better prove your point, Bright.”

Without further encouragement his lips smacked into hers, holding her tighter. She reciprocated the passion, and tangled her fingers into his hair. Not long after Malcolm’s lips once again were at her neck and upper chest, as low as he could lower the neckline of her top.

“No, Malcolm, up.” With no response Dani assumed he just missed her words. “Up.”

His face leveled with hers and she smiled at the look of generosity he had painted all over his features. Using the moment of break she kicked off her shoes.

“Kiss  _ me _ .”

Dani demanded sweetly, and he obeyed lowering his hand from her back to inconspicuously unzip her skirt. Feeling what he was up to she smiled into the kiss and with his hands on her ass she leached to his neck, leaving a hickey there. She just hoped the collars of his shirts would cover it, but the following days proved her wrong, when she later that week overheard at work how JT was poking fun at Malcolm for the mark.

When Dani stepped out of her skirt, and Malcolm was stripped off of his shirt, something of the shape of a reason showed itself.

“We should go to bed.”

“You are no adventure, Bright.”

He squinted his eyes at her, truly hurt. He knew she was joking, still couldn’t resist the urge to prove her wrong. Few more seconds and the decision was made. Dani followed the process in his eyes and terror took over her as Malcolm lifted her up and turned around, having her pressed firmly against the door. She laughed and shook and straightened to tower over Malcolm, and also to press her whole body against his - from hips up through the chest.

Looking down at him she smiled and squinted her eyes back at him.

“Okay, you are having a little fun.”

“Bed,” but Malcolm was stern.

“Fine.”

But he didn’t put her down, just walked with Dani attached to him, her legs wrapped around his waist. After another session of heated kisses intertwined with gentle endearments both of them were stripped down to just an underwear. That’s when Dani started sobering up and the hangover was peeking through. She lost her interest in any activity. Unsurprisingly, Malcolm noticed change in her right away.

“Something wrong?”

He was on top, and sensing Dani’s sudden distancing he drew away from her body, now hovering over her.

“I’m tired. I just-- I don’t want to have sex now.” She untangled words from her thoughts, a bit ashamed. She knew she had all the rights to refuse but it still felt unfair to pull away  _ now _ .

Without any further questions Malcolm just moved to lay next to her, still in close proximity.

“But I still think you shouldn’t go home alone. Please, stay. Guest bedroom upstairs is all yours.”

Dani was amazed he thought about that. They never had a proper conversation about rules to the sexual part of their relationship. But Bright quickly noticed some things, like Dani never stayed overnight although he never casted her out. She had nothing against napping at his place, but never full on slept.

But now was not a good time to get up, her head spinning due to increased physical activity and blood toxicated with bubbles and alcohol from beers, rushing through her whole body. She knew she wouldn’t make it to the other bed, so she took the risk, and it didn’t feel wrong.

“Can I stay here? I think I had too much beer...”

“Of course,” and as he started to move away, she caught his arm and pressed her forehead to his chest, pushing him down with that movement.

Now it was clear to him how drunk she actually was, snuggling like this never happened. She was breathing deeply and very regularly, being asleep within the next few minutes. And with her weight on top of him Malcolm reached for covers and also drifted away, peacefully.

That night Dani broke two of her rules. One, to never sleep over at his place. Two, no cuddles or kisses other than the ones leading to the doing. And the worst part was, she wasn’t even regretting it. The feeling of being held by Malcolm Bright just felt so  _ right _ .


	3. Chapter 3

Dani let herself in with her own copy of keys to Malcolm’s loft. He handed them to her some time ago and was truly scared when doing so. They were at the precinct late in the evening, to wrap up a case and Malcolm approached her at her desk, fidgeting in stress. Bright. for a very long time, was explaining himself, trying to assure her he wasn’t crossing any boundaries; that he was giving her the keys not because they occasionally slept together but because they were friends. She took them with a reassuring smile, saying that it’s fine. For her it was privilege, as if she was accepted into some sort of private club for elites.

Only a few people had access to his apartment with their own completely spare keys. Obviously Jessica and Ainsley, but to Dani’s surprise even Gil. Because one day something bad might happen and they will have to be able to enter his place easily. Malcolm admitted to Dani that he had very ambivalent feelings about his mother having her own copy, since she was overusing it to terrorize him emotionally, but he knew it still was safer that way. And that’s why he wanted Dani, for her own means, to get into his place if needed, because he trusted her and he needed in his life more people that could be trusted.

Last weekend Malcolm called Dani to ask if she could do something for him. After a short conversation she extracted from him all the details. Malcolm was having headaches that he connected to the blow in his face from half a year ago, due to the beaming pain with the source right behind the punched eye. So the day when he was going to see the doctor has finally come, and it was that Monday. Unfortunately, he was also meant to fill his prescription that day and chances he will successfully complete both of his errands were very, very low due to limited time resources at his hands, even though Malcolm took a day off from work.

When Bright explanations reached the end he asked perplexedly if Dani could pick his meds up from the pharmacy after her shift was done. She agreed enthusiastically, not seeing any possible reasons why she wouldn’t help him nor why Malcolm was so hesitant in asking her straight away.

That same evening he went over to her place to leave her all the papers required to pick up his meds. They never met at her place for anything more than just a friendly tea and he was okay with that. It was late into the night when he knocked on her door but despite that Dani was getting ready to sleep she invited him in and offered a cup of tea. He accepted happily and they ended up squeezed together on her tiny sofa, in heated conversation about the economy of nightclubs in New York. When the mugs were emptied Bright went back home, strolling peacefully through the city in search of a way to defeat his insomnia.

That evening Dani received all the details necessary to complete her mission and now here she was, with a paper bag making rattling noises like a damn maracases. She had no idea how many little containers filled with pills were inside of it. But she was positive that everything that was listed on the prescription was given to her by a lovely pharmacist lady. Making obnoxious noises with the trophy of completed mission Dani headed to the kitchen where Malcolm was pacing with a phone pressed to his ear, jacked missing from his three piece suit and sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

Correcting her disturbing behaviour, after noticing Malcolm was on the phone, she stopped fighting for his attention with the bag filled by medicines. Dani couldn’t make out much from what he was saying, just a not-so-kind-goodbyes, while approaching him. Reaching the kitchen island she took off her coat and just threw it across the counter top, key jangling against marble. Still eyeing Malcolm suspiciously Dani went around and saw how he ended the phone call with a shaking hand. She decided to not ask about it and brought up the bag to the level of his eyes.

“I got it!” Dani proudly announced and hopped on the counter, across from Malcolm. “What did the doctor say?”

“That it probably is from the punch,” she smiled since she was right that Bright should have gone to the doctor back then. And now he was suffering because he hadn’t listened to her. “I got something for the pain and it should be fine. How’s investigation?”

“Nothing new. Today’s just boring paperwork.”

Malcolm hummed in agreement, grateful he didn’t miss anything important. The bag was handed over and he started to unpack it on the counter, next to Dani. He stood close to her, enough to nudge her knee when taking each bottle out. Only after they all were in his eyesight Bright opened the drawer with all of his meds and started organising them and checking if Dani actually got everything.

She was following with her gaze his every move, curiously like a cat, truly hypnotised by the processes. But there were many pills to go through and Dani rushed from the precinct to take care of this errand without giving any attention to the possibility of getting hungry. Now the emptiness in her stomach was fighting for her attention.

“Do you have anything to eat?”

Malcolm paused and looked blankly into the nothingness in front of him, going through the content of the kitchen in his head. A very bright thought had to appear there, and Malcolm looked at Dani.

“Ains brought a new batch of ice creams.”

Dani, happy with an answer she received, hopped from the counter and went to hunt down one of Ainsley’s boxes of ice cream. She always had stock of various flavours in Malcolm’s fridge since one very memorable day when he was still attending university. His sister just  _ appeared  _ at the place he was renting, he found her there when he came back from classes. Ainsley had to be fifteen and Malcolm had no idea how she managed to sneak away from their mother, away from the city. Bright told Dani the whole story how Ainsley had her heart broken and how he was patching said heart with endless containers of ice creams, until Jessica came and took her back home the next day. With time it evolved into some sort of an inside joke between the siblings.

Since then, whenever Ains was feeling down she was paying her brother a visit, here or in his apartment in the capitol, when he was working there. But lately everything was going great in her life so ice creams were mainly consumed by Dani, and Ainsley had nothing against that. With her blessing, Dani shamelessly took a container of chocolate ones and returned to her previous place on the counter.

Time passed with no words spoken until Malcolm was done. Halfway through he realised that his companion stopped following his actions with her gaze. And not because she grew bored, but she deliberately was not focusing on him. For him it was easy to spot sudden attempts to distance her mind.

When finished, Malcolm closed the drawer with a singular loud bang which caused Dani to flinch. He stepped back, taking place right in front of her, leaning with his back on the cabinet behind.

“If having a sister taught anything, that would be: if a girl's eating an ice cream for dinner it means something’s wrong.”

Bright was concerned about Dani’s abrupt melancholy, but didn’t want to push too far. She sighed loudly, stabbing anxiously with the spoon into the half-melted sweet mass, floating in the box placed between her legs. Sorting her thoughts out, her stare was fixed there. 

“I wanted to talk with you about us.”

The inevitability of this conversation was haunting her for a couple of weeks. Now seemed like a good moment to give it a try, Dani decided, prompted by the comfortable and comforting silence that had fallen between them.

“ _ Friends with benefits _ ?” Bright phrased jokingly, trying to look under her curly fringe from across the kitchen's narrow pathway, and loosen up the newly appeared in the air tension.

It worked and Dani smiled, raising her head. She placed another scoop between her teeth. She was that kind of specimen who would bite into ice cream, instead of just patiently sucking at the melting treat. She was kissing in the same way.

“Ice creams are the benefits, don’t think differently.”

She smiled bashfully at her own words. Bright fought for a moment but also gave up and let a smirk on his lips. Malcolm didn’t want to lose the chance of serious conversation with her, after she admitted there was something she wanted to talk about. He pushed away from the counter behind his back and stepped closer, so close it was only a thin layer of air between them.

Malcolm crossed arms on his chest, but not in a defensive manner nor the way that would insinuate he wasn’t interested in taking in whatever Dani had to tell him. Rather, it looked like a way of self-hug, to protect himself. He approached her like he would a stray kitten he didn’t want to scare off, and spoke encouragingly in a calm voice.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“I think we should stop.” And after a short pause Dani picks up the struggle to continue. “It was fun but….”

“You don’t have to explain yourself, Dani.”

Keeping his steadiness intacted, Malcolm tried to cut short her possible excuses. She really didn’t need to deliver them and he had no rights to demand anything.

“But don’t you want to know?”

Another move forward got him closer to her, this time not even a proper step; they were so close prior to that point in their conversation. Malcolm was now pressing the slight length of his thigh against her loosely hanging calf.

“Of course I do,” he spoke softly. “But I won’t make you do anything against yourself.”

He waited.

“I think I started developing a crush on you…” Dani spoke unashamedly, in a loud, clear voice. Her head flew back in awkwardness as she tightly sealed her uncomfortable smile.

Malcolm just stood there, utterly confused, as if his mind was refusing to process what was just said. When his eyes were getting bigger and bigger in surprise, Dani hanged her head down again, trying to ignore his gaze fixed on her frantically. She was sure he didn’t mean to be staring at her so intensely, but the blank space prevailing in his mind took over the sense in him.

“I can’t keep my thoughts organised when around you, I can’t stop smiling when you’re around and I can’t stop longing for time to spend with you.” Another handful of ice cream ended in her mouth. She was buying herself time to gather courage to continue the speaking. “It will pass, this state of mind. I just need time.”

And then he snorted with quiet laughter in surprise. Malcolm untangled his arms and placed both of them on both sides of Dani, now he had something to tell and it was his duty to not let her run away, even if it meant physically imprisoning her for a minute between his body and kitchen island. It was extraordinary, someone wanting him and it made him more comfortable with close proximity. He was expecting many things that Dani could tell him, but not  _ that _ .

“And I thought I was the only one…”

“Sorry?” She lifted her confuzed gaze and looked at him.

“I was finding myself wanting to impress you, more than usual and more than everyone else. I had to stop myself on multiple occasions to not say how lovely you look.” Changes on her face were rapid. Malcolm felt like he made his point and commented on her expression. “What? You are very easy to fall for! Kind, smart, pretty… Oh, don’t pull that face on me, Powell. The list goes on!”

Dani straightened up but her eyes went down. She spoke quietly.

“You know it’s equally easy the other way around? You are a very generous man, Bright. And caring.”

Silence fell again, when eyes weren’t fixed on each other. Each of them in need of rethinking their current situation.

“Should we do something about it, Malcolm?”

He jerked back his head, gaining seriousness to his posture.

“I was honest, Dani. Back when it happened the first time. You don’t deserve to be in a relationship with someone as broken as me.”

She reached for his cheek, knowing damn well now she was breaking his rule, stepping over the boundary he set. Malcolm was very touch-starved and his lovemaking was always tender and gentle, skin to skin all the time. But rarely let himself be touched by her in a manner different that erotic. Dani took the risk and placed her cold palm against his jawline, drawing his face closer to hers. But even with his chip up, his eyes still weren’t meeting hers, fixed somewhere behind. 

“I will never be sane,” he said apologetically, in a breaking voice, and looked down.

“I know.” Dani drifted her hand down, caressing the side of his neck, his arm, until she stopped and grasped gentilly his wrist, placing it on her thigh. She spoke gently, with a hint of amusement. “I’ve been watching you for some time, I’ve noticed.”

Malcolm lifted his gaze to meet Dani’s soft stare. He was ashamed of all that was wrong with him, even if he knew that Dani was fully aware of all of it, due to his father being present in every other investigation. She saw what Martin Whitly had done and has been doing to him. But now, when all of those things were evaluated by the women he started to care so much about, more than just a friend would, he felt powerless.

“But I am not demanding sanity from you, Malcolm.” She placed a hot, wet kiss on his scratchy cheek, and continued with lips still close to his skin. “Love has never been anywhere near sanity.”

Dani realised what she said long after the chance to bite her tongue. And now it was too late, so she just looked with terror at what Malcolm's reaction would be like. They have been having sex and just admitted that emotions started being involved on both sides. There wasn’t room to talk about love yet.

Luckily he went into one of his typical coping mechanisms - humor.

“So I might be very good at that  _ love  _ thing _. _ ” Malcolm teased her, twisting the meaning of the word. She agreed with a sheepish smile.

The atmosphere relaxed a bit, so did their bodies. Dani moved one of her legs, so Malcolm was now standing between her thighs. But it felt different to the times before, when they were in the same place, in the same position but heated with their passion. 

“This will be fun,” Malcolm admitted with a wild grin on his face.

“God, I love fun…” And she agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We reached it! THE END! It was fun, for me at least.  
> Share your thoughts, please. I'm always eager for feedback.


End file.
